Tao Wanniang sneered, "The fox's tail has been revealed!"

"No, not a single penny!" Tao Wanniang said bluntly. "To put it bluntly, I'm only wasting my breath talking to you here because you're Xiao Qiao'er's biological father. If you don't want things to get too ugly, get out of here right now!"

Liang Laifu gritted his teeth and said bluntly, "Tao, don't push your luck. If it weren't for my help back then, would your family be living a good life?"

"When Li Jianghai threatened you, if it weren't for me and my wife, would you have been able to leave Shanhai Prefecture?" Liang Laifu's expression was somewhat indignant. "Qiao'er is my daughter, she's mine!"

"You didn't want her back then, so you gave her to me. Now that you're short of money, you're using your daughter as an excuse to ask for money. What, is your daughter your tool?" Tao Wanniang said sarcastically. "Let me tell you the truth, Qiao'er has a new identity now. She's my daughter, she has my surname, and she's officially registered with the government!"

Liang Laifu stared at Tao Wanniang in shock. After a moment of stunned silence, he shouted towards the restaurant, "Qiao'er, Linglong, your father is here! Come out quickly!" As he spoke, Liang Laifu pushed Tao Wanniang aside and rushed into the restaurant.

Liang Laifu knew martial arts, and in the heat of the moment, he shoved Tao Wanniang, sending her crashing into the wall.

"Ouch!" Tao Wanniang cried out in pain, and shouted angrily, "Liang Laifu, how dare you? If you dare to shout again, I will spread the word that you are the son-in-law of the disgraced official Zhang Shicheng. Although I am just a small restaurant owner, I have a clean background, unlike you!"

"I have connections in the capital!"

The Ling brothers had already been alerted and stopped Liang Laifu from barging in.

Upon hearing Tao Wanniang's words, Liang Laifu suddenly realized something, turned around in shock, and looked at Tao Wanniang, saying, "It was you! It was you who rescued the imperial inspector back then!"

"Yes, it was us. Your father-in-law ended up with his head, and I deserve some credit for that. Guess if I'm still in contact with the Imperial Inspector?"

Tao Wanniang looked coldly at Liang Laifu, "If you want to settle down in the capital, even though I, Tao Wanniang, am just a woman, I can still make you tuck your tails between your legs and get out of the capital!"

Liang Laifu stumbled as he thought back on everything. Although he had not participated in his father-in-law's persecution of the imperial inspector, it was by karma that he and Xinlan had sent the person who could bring their father-in-law to justice out of Shanhai Prefecture!

"I won't let this go." Liang Laifu's expression changed several times before he finally left angrily.

Tao Wanniang wiggled her arms; her back still ached a bit. Liang Laifu was quite strong.

"Mother, are you alright?" Ling Dahu asked with concern, seeing Tao Wanniang's condition.

"I'm fine!" Tao Wanniang replied, but then she immediately became anxious: "Oh no, where's Xiao Qiao'er?"

Xiao Qiao'er couldn't possibly have missed Liang Laifu's loud shouting from the kitchen. The fact that he didn't come out means that Xiao Qiao'er herself didn't want to see Liang Laifu.

Tao Wan's mother immediately ran to the kitchen to find someone and saw Xiao Qiao'er squatting on the ground with her head in her hands.

"Mother, has Xiao Qiao'er's father arrived?" Wang Hongyu stood beside Xiao Qiao'er, her expression showing some sympathy.

"Qiao'er, get up and tell your mother what you think?" Tao Wan's mother stepped forward, pulled little Qiao'er up, and asked solemnly.

"I...I...I don't want to leave." Xiao Qiao'er's eyes were red. When she heard Liang Laifu shouting, she subconsciously wanted to go out and see, but she stopped as soon as she took a step.

When her biological father arrived, she wasn't happy; instead, she suddenly felt panicked. She didn't want to leave. She had grown to love her current life and already considered herself her mother's daughter. She panicked. What if… what if her biological father insisted on taking her away? Would her mother let her go?

“No one is asking you to leave!” Tao Wanniang said sternly. “Qiao’er, remember, you are my daughter. As long as you don’t want to leave, I will not send you away!”

"What...what does he want with me?" Xiao Qiao'er asked weakly. "Didn't he abandon me?" When she left Shan Hai Mansion, Xiao Qiao'er had already prepared herself to not have a father, but she was only a ten-year-old girl!

"Your father's wife gave birth to a son for him, and they have come to the capital. Now your father wants you to go back. Will you go back?" Tao Wanniang concealed the fact that Liang Laifu wanted money and said this half-truthfully.

"If Mother wants me, I won't go back. He's someone else's father now!" Xiao Qiao'er was stunned for a moment when she heard this, but then replied, though her words clearly carried a sense of loss.

The little girl's thoughts were written all over her face, and Tao Wanniang pulled Xiao Qiao'er into her arms.

"Qiao'er, remember this: your full name is Tao Linglong. In the official household registration, you are my daughter, Tao Wanniang!" Tao Wanniang said solemnly. "No one can make you leave this family except yourself."

"I won't leave, I'll never leave, I want to stay with my mother!" Little Qiao'er hugged Tao Wan's mother tightly, making Wang Hongyu, who was standing to the side, envious.

"Sir, time to eat!" Ling Dahu's voice came from the hall; a guest had arrived.

"Wipe your tears and cheer up, we're going to cook." Tao Wan's mother patted Xiao Qiao'er's shoulder and said.

"Yes, Mother!" Little Qiao'er called out in a clear voice, a faint smile on her face.

Liang Laifu returned home disappointed, his face grim. Walking down the long street in the autumn rain, he paid no heed to the cold.

"Uncle Gao, why didn't you tell me about the relationship between the Tao family and the Imperial Inspector?" Liang Laifu asked the servant who had told him about his daughter's whereabouts when he returned to his rented house.

"This old servant doesn't know what the young master means. I arrived in the capital half a month earlier than the young master and young lady. I saw that girl by chance and thought that the young master would meet her in the future, so I told them where she was." Gao Wang was a servant of the Zhang family. After Zhang Xinlan married Liang Laifu, he also followed Liang Laifu.

Liang Laifu glanced at Gao Wang, and then, hearing the sound of a child crying coming from the main house, his brows furrowed even more.

With his father-in-law impeached, he could no longer work in the government. He came to the capital because Zhang Xinlan said he had a distant uncle to rely on. However, all his food, clothing, and daily necessities were obtained by selling Zhang Xinlan's dowry, which made his dignity as a man feel increasingly trampled underfoot, and his life became more and more stifling.

If he could get back those five hundred taels of silver, at least he would have money in his hands, and he wouldn't be controlled by Zhang Xinlan in everything, nor would he have to be ridiculed and insulted by Zhang Xinlan just for asking for money.

"Shut up, all you do is cry!" Zhang Xinlan's frantic cursing came from inside the room.

"Miss, the young master must be hungry. Let's find him a wet nurse!" The maid Lianqiao said with heartache, holding the one-month-old baby.

"Then go find him! Go find him right now and get him out of here! Where's your son-in-law? Why isn't he back yet? Where the hell has he gone?"

Liang Laifu took a deep breath, pushed open the door, and looked at the crying child. He couldn't help but say, "This is the child you carried for ten months and gave birth to. Can't you breastfeed the child yourself?"

"Liang Laifu, do you know what you're saying? What do you take me for? Feeding a child is something that should be done by a wet nurse. Don't compare me to your poor, destitute people!" Zhang Xinlan said irritably.

"Zhang Xinlan, get this straight! What are we doing now? Do you think you still have a father who's a prefect?" Liang Laifu looked at the child in his arms, whose face was flushed from crying, and was both angry and anxious. He couldn't help but yell at Zhang Xinlan.